Boss DS1 Distortion Guitar Pedal

This Best Selling Boss DS1 Distortion Guitar Pedal tends to SELL OUT VERY FAST!!

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 3.5 x 2.4 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0002CZV82
• Item model number: DS-1
  

List Price : $78.50
Price : $49.00
You Save : $29.50 (38%)

Product Description

The DS-1 provides a harder distortion effect for guitar and keyboard sounds. Instead of toneless, fuzzy distortion, the DS-1 faithfully reproduces all the subtle nuances of your playing dynamics, from whisper- quiet to screaming loud. The onboard TONE control allows you to tailor the overall sound to your liking.

Product Features

• Tone, level, and distortion knobs on face
• Super-tough construction
• Lets your true guitar tone shine through
• 3-control layout for a range of essential distortion tones
• A proven pedalboard staple - for 30 years

This Best Selling Boss DS1 Distortion Guitar Pedal tends to SELL OUT VERY FAST!!

Customer Reviews

Alright, so you want to get a good (if somewhat "basic") distortion sound for less than $100? This is your deal. If, on the other hand, you're a tone snob who believes that anything other than overhyped and overpriced boutique pedals is garbage, you're probably not looking at this page to begin with. Don't get me wrong, I have some nice boutique pedals and mods (like the Cusack Screamer and the Keeley MT-2) that I would never part with. But here's the thing...the stock DS-1 stands proud even in such company. Why? A few simple observations:
1) Boss has been selling this pedal with great success since 1978, regardless of the fact that...
2) Due to the toughness, you'll likely never need to replace one of these tanks.
2a) There is a profusion of overdrive and distortion pedals on the market, both corporate and boutique varieties.
3) Many outstanding guitar players have used this pedal in the studio and on the road, including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, etc... Sure, some are using "modified" versions now, like Vai's Keeley edition. But you don't tamper with what you don't like. If the foundation isn't solid, you replace it. I also own the Ibanez Vai Jemini pedal and what they basically did (in my opinion) was take his tube screamer and DS-1 pedals and put them into one box for convenience. Same thing with Satriani's Vox Satchurator pedal. You know someone really loves a pedal when they use it as a template in designing their own signature line. I don't have any proof that they did this, but it does sound like it in a side-by-side comparison.
4) Now consider that the Jemini and Satchurator are $199 and $129, respectively. Nice pedals? Yes. Worth up to four times the DS-1? After using both for a few months, I'm not entirely convinced of that. Since I'm a pedal collector, they're staying put in my house. But I don't see a whole lot in them that really blows away the core DS-1 sound.
Seriously, if you're looking for a simple, set and forget distortion that has a good basic tone for rock and metal, the Boss DS-1 is a great value. If you simply must have crystalline tone purity in a box, why are you still reading this? Get outta here already ;-)

From Greg Abrams review, entitled "For all but the tone snobs," the first review you read on this product's page:
"Alright, so you want to get a good (if somewhat "basic") distortion sound for less than $100? This is your deal."
I strongly disagree. You can find MUCH BETTER distortions for $100 or less, even a few near or under the $40 mark the DS-1 is currently priced at.
I've played guitar for over 8 years. Like many people one of my first pedal purchases was the DS-1. Afterall, everyone talks about them, they're available at any given music store in the nation, you hear about all these famous musicians using them, plus a DS-1 is actually pretty cheap! So I snapped one up just like everyone else. Come to find out that just because something is POPULAR, that doesn't always mean its GOOD (see: Nickelback, the Transformers movie franchise, the Kardashian family, etc...).
So I plugged it in and didn't really care for it. The distortion was harsh, thin, artificial sounding and always noisy. I tried it on both my amps (My practic amp: a solid state Fender Frontman 25R, and my big amp, the B-52 AT100, which is a 100w tube halfstack) It was was not very diverse, and the basic sound was not very likeable to me. I've read the Japanese made DS-1's are better in sound than the newer, made in Taiwan models but, either way, the DS-1 is just not a great pedal in my mind.
But, like many newer players, I didn't know any better at the time. Fast forward a few years and I've bought and sold literally dozens of pedals. There is a whole world of great tones to be found out there if you keep your eyes open.
So here are some pedals I currently own that I like much better than the DS-1. All of them are great general purpose distortions, easy enough to find new and used in most guitar shops, can currently be bought brand new for $75 or less here on good ol' Amazon.com, and are rugged enough to last for years:
Boss DS-2: Lest I catch any flames from people thinking I'm a Boss hater (I'm certainly not, I loved the TU-3, the ODB-3, the MD-2, and the XT-2, among others) I'll start with the DS-1's big brother. This pedal has a much nicer tone to it, not to mention 2 distinct distortion modes. The I setting is pretty much a higher quality DS-1, the II setting is a brighter, richer tone. As the DS-1 completely overshadows the DS-2 in popularity, you can find DS-2's all over ebay for very cheap prices. A very worthy pedal, unfortunately overlooked by many.
ProCo RAT2: Great dirty distortion pedal. One of my personal favorites. You've heard this box used on literally hundreds if not thousands of songs in the last 30 years, its used by just a ridiculous amount of guitarists. Its a rich, full distortion that at higher gains gets slightly fuzzy. I've never heard a bad tone out of mine. Its great for getting a "big amp" kind of sound out of a small practice amp. Its also great for pushing a big amp with too much headroom into the overdriven sweet spot without having to crank the amp volume. A truly excellent pedal.
EHX Little Big Muff: The Big muff is another pedal you've heard on hundreds of songs. Its kind of a fuzz, kind of a distortion, but definitely owns its own sonic territory. Very big, saturated and warm. Used heavily in the 70's for classic rock tones, also in the 90's and beyond for tons of grunge and garage. Used by everyone from Carlos Santana and David Gilmour to the Smashing Pumpkins and Jack White. I personally reccomend the Little Big Muff, not only is it a touch creamier in tone than the recent NYC reissue, its smaller, uses a regular 9v adapter and its CHEAPER! A great pedal.
MXR Distortion +: The Distortion + is a great first distortion, and can usually be found pretty cheap. Whats nice about the Distortion + is that it sounds great on anything, and the lack of a tone knob helps keep it somewhat transparent, i.e. you can more easily hear the natural tone of your guitar and amp, it doesn't cover over your equipments sound. Used by quite a few famous folks, including the Greatful Deads Jerry Garcia, Randy Rhoads (Ozzy's famous guitarist) and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols.
Danelectro Cool Cat Metal CM-1: Make sure you get the Cool Cat Metal, NOT the Metal II. That's a fine pedal as well, but its definitely more of a traditional metal pedal. The Cool Cat Metal, or CM-1, is actually a very very different pedal from most metal pedals. Basically, its a pre-amp that sits on the floor. It has a fully adjustable EQ with tons of volume and gain through the roof. So you can do anything from a clean boost (with the gain at minimum there is virtually NO coloration to your tone) to high gain metal stuff, with plenty of great overdrive and rock tones in between. It works well with any amp I've tried it on, and you can find tons of great sounds. Its an unbelievably versatile pedal, and its even true bypass. The best part is, Danelectro seems to have made way too many of them, so you can easily find one used or even new for under $30. A true hidden gem that's actually CHEAPER than a DS-1.
Ibanez DS7 Distortion: Many people know about (and speak highly of) Ibanez's famous Tube Screamer. What many people DON'T know about is that Ibanez uses some of the same parts for their other lesser known (and less expensive) Overdrive and Distortion pedals. Case in point, the DS7 from Ibanez has some of the same parts as the famed Tube Screamer, including the JRC4558 opamp. Obviously, being a distortion pedal, it sounds different than their Tube Screamer, but its a great general purpose distortion that gives a good, rich crunch. Like the Screamer, however, it reacts VERY well to your picking attack and guitar volume, which are not qualities one expects to find in a $30 pedal (yes, you read that correctly, real TS parts in a THIRTY DOLLAR PEDAL) What impresses me about it even further is how tight the notes stay; when you play full chords the notes don't bleed into each other as easily as on many other distortions. It has excellent tone, great range, fantastic dynamics, and a very durable (though admittedly kinda ugly) metal shell, all a surprisingly cheap price point. Another hidden gem, and its ALSO gonna cost you LESS than a DS-1.
Hopefully these suggestions give you something to look for. Also, if you can't actually try a pedal out at the store, YouTube is great place to hear demos of what different pedals can do.
I should also mention that if you try and love the DS-1 and it suits your needs, than more power to you. Tone is subjective, every pedal sounds different running through different guitars and amps, and just because I may share different opinions on something that you love, that's okay. My main reason for posting this lengthy review is to give newer players some information. You have PLENTY of options for distortion pedals, the DS-1 is NOT the only thing out there that's affordable. Find something you truly love and buy that. If its the DS-1, one of the pedals I've mentioned here, or anything else, the important part is that it sounds right to YOU.

 

Boss DS1 Distortion Guitar Pedal